This invention relates generally to electronic game and particularly to those operative to develop memory and concentration skills among game participants.
Electronic games have become an extremely well known and popular type of game product in the toy art. With the relatively recent development of low-cost mass-produced microprocessor based circuits, a dramatic increase has been obtained in the capability of such electronic games. Even the most modest of electronic games utilizes a microprocessor which is relatively fast and includes a significant amount of memory. Such circuits take advantage of the,economies of digital signal processing and thus, are for the most part xe2x80x9csoftware drivenxe2x80x9d. Correspondingly, manufacturing cost of other associated apparatus of the type used in such electronic games has also benefited from high volume production and has been dramatically reduced. Previously expensive electronic components such as light emitting diodes (LED""s), sound circuits, audio transducers such as piezoelectric transducers, microprocessor memory and the like have allowed practitioner""s in the art to respond to the popularity of electronic games by producing a virtually endless variety of highly entertaining and amusing games.
Perhaps one of the earliest and most significant commercial products in the electronic game art which introduced many consumers to electronic games was a game generally known as xe2x80x9cSimon Sezxe2x80x9d. The electronic Simon Sez game was to some extent an electronic replication of a long existing child""s game in which a leader issued various commands to the participant""s challenging the participant""s to correctly respond to valid commands such as xe2x80x9cSimon Sez stand upxe2x80x9d and to reject or ignore invalid claims such as xe2x80x9cstand upxe2x80x9d which lack the appropriate Simon Sez preface. The electronic version of this game utilized an apparatus having the capability to illuminate a plurality of differently colored buttons on a game housing while producing corresponding musical tones associated with each. The game play involved the initial presentation by the game unit of one or more lighted buttons and accompanying tones in a given sequence. Thereafter, the player was challenged to repeat the same sequence by pressing the previously lighted buttons in the appropriate order. As the player successfully repeated each sequence portion, the game then replayed the sequence and added an additional button thereto further challenging the player.
The popularity of such early electronic games prompted practitioner""s in the art to provide a continuous array of electronic games having increasing levels of complexity and amusement. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,710 issued to Breslow et al sets forth a TALKING ELECTRONIC GAME having an integrated circuit voice synthesizer to generate a plurality of beginning phrases each forming the beginning of a complete phrase. The apparatus further produces a plurality of ending phrases each forming the end of a complete phrase. The beginning and ending phrases are assigned at random to a plurality of push buttons and the object of the game is to match up the beginning and ending phrases of various sentences by appropriate actuation of the various push buttons.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,935 issued to Goldfarb sets forth a MUSICAL GAME APPARATUS having a housing generally resembling a miniature jukebox having a plurality of depressible buttons and apparatus for playing musical notes. The apparatus is operated in various game modes ranging from low difficulty to substantially difficulty.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,482 issued to Goldfarb sets forth a SOUND RESPONSIVE ELECTRONIC GAME having apparatus for generating a series of player-interrogation signals and maintaining a series of correct responses. The correct sequences is defines in accordance with established game rules which are known to the players. The game apparatus receives actual auditory and switch closure responses from the players, compares the responses with the correct sequence, and indicates visually and auditory whether each response is correct.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,097 issued to Levine sets forth an AUDIO QUIZ GAME in which a player attempts to answer a question after listening to a corresponding audio clip provided on a compact disk. Each track of the compact disk contains one or more""sound clips separated by audio cues. The questions and answers relating to specific tracks are provided in a book, or playing cards, or in a computer memory and may be randomly accessed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,447 issued to Goldfarb sets forth a MULTIPLE CHOICE VERBAL SOUND TOY having a housing supporting a plurality of depressible keys and an audio circuit for producing verbal sound. The audio circuit uses a microprocessor to produce one sound or poem that has at least one space or slot for introducing a supplementary verbal sound segment to complete the song or poem. The child user is given a plurality of different choices for segments for completing the song or poem.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,308 issued to Danell set forth a SOUND RECORDING AND PLAYBACK SYSTEM having electronic apparatus which brakes a stream of recorded sound into discreet segments. The apparatus randomizes the order of the sound segments and allows the sound segments to be reordered to their original sequence or some other desired order.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,153 issued to Hauck sets forth a MUSICAL ELECTRONIC GAME having apparatus for randomly selecting a sequence of musical notes and for,presenting a recognizable sequence of notes to the user. A switch device actuated by the player causes a signal to be generated indicative that the player identified the recognition sequence of notes within those previously presented.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,478 issued to Kwan et al sets forth a TOY ELECTRONIC GAME WITH FLEXIBLE INTERACTIVE PLAY SECTION having an electronic game processor unit and a flexible play panel upon which a plurality of visual indicia are supported. A plurality of depressible buttons also of flexible structure are supported beneath the invisible indicia and are operatively coupled to the circuitry of the game. The panel may be rolled up for convenient storage between use.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have generally improved the art and in some instance enjoyed commercial success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for ever more unusual, novel and entertaining electronic games.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide and improved electronic game and apparatus. It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved electronic game and apparatus which effectively uses sound and visual effects.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a game comprising: a housing; a plurality of light and button assemblies supported by the housing, each having a depressible button and a latent image; a control circuit, within the housing, having a microprocessor and associated memory and a sound circuit for producing sounds associated with each of the latent images; and means for illuminating each of the depressible buttons to reveal the latent image thereon, the microprocessor and the associated memory operative to perform game play which includes randomly selecting one of the light and button assemblies and operating the means for illuminating and the sound circuit to reveal a selected latent image and produce an associated sound and thereafter simultaneously reveal a plurality of the latent images and produce a corresponding plurality of the associated sounds.